Laboratory Information Systems (LISs) and Hospital Information Systems (HISs) both fall under the category of Health Care Information or Enterprise Systems. Generally, health care enterprises provide various aspects of patient care such as patient identification and tracking, as well as medication and sample collection order and data management. In providing patient care, health care workers typically utilize one or more software applications accessible through a health care information system. Access to health care information systems have typically, in the past, required fixed terminals such as nurse workstations to be used at a location potentially distant from the point of care (i.e., at the patient's location). To provide more convenient and efficient access to an LIS, more portable modules such as handheld computers or portable data terminals (PDTs) have recently been introduced into health care and hospital settings and are hereinafter generally referred to as “handhelds”. The handhelds can be connected to a server directly through a LAN, modem, or wireless connection. Optionally, the handhelds can be connected to a server through a PC using a serial or parallel connection. In order to use the handheld, the information on the handheld is synchronized with the LIS by connecting the handheld to a data import/export device connected with the LIS, or via a cable connected with the LIS, to allow the exchange of data between the LIS and the handheld.
In particular, portable computing devices utilizing software for medical error management are becoming increasingly common as medical healthcare technology improves. A portable computing device can collect clinical and non-clinical information about the sample collection process at a hospital, laboratory, or blood collection facility or clinic. To better manage patient-related testing results and the specimens from which those results were derived from, it is important to track the collected specimens and match them to the patient's identification information, which is typically stored in patient and specimen order databases such as hospital or laboratory information systems.
On occasion, a deviation might occur during the process of collecting samples from a patient. For instance, while collecting blood samples into blood collection containers, it is possible that a vein will collapse and the nurse or phlebotomist will not be able to collect all of the ordered collection containers that he or she has been instructed to complete. The containers, after being filled with blood samples, are typically put into a bag (one bag per patient) and subsequently delivered through a pneumatic tube system commonly found in hospitals. The pneumatic tube system will deliver the collected samples to the laboratory where the laboratory personnel gather and organize and sometimes even prioritize the samples for analysis on high-throughput analyzers.
If there was a problem collecting one of the tests samples ordered, it is the responsibility for the nurse or phlebotomist who performed the collection to notify the laboratory so that the laboratory personnel can appropriately address the situation. However, this step is often overlooked or forgotten, thereby likely requiring the laboratory technician to reorder the test for the same patient and possibly delay the analysis and results associated with that patient. The above-described inefficiency is time consuming and potentially dangerous if the doctor who ordered the tests needs the patient's clinical results in a timely fashion. It is also a discomfort to the patient as additional and potentially unnecessary sample collections are required due to lack of proper communication between the medical personnel involved in collecting and analyzing a sample. A need therefore exists for a medical error monitoring and management system that provides communication channels and/or means to notify a laboratory when less than all of the containers for an order are collected.